Electric ignition system for gas burners



Jan; 10, 1928. 1,655,528

E. T. BANZHAF ELECTRIC IGNITION SYSTEM FOR GAS BURNERS Filed Dem 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 III Illl m (IMF-5"" c INVENTOR.

J2 Ebnin TuBmimhaf I I ibmnnfl- 4 TTORNEY E. T. BANZHAF mmIg IGNITION SYSTEM FOR GAS BURNERS Jan. 10, 1928.

Filed Dec. 6, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lust". r! N IN VEN TOR.

Elna in 71136112212111 Patented Jan. 10, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE}.

ELMIN T. BANZHAF, 01' SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MEN'IS, TO BAKER PERKINS COHPAN Y, INC., OF SAGINAW, MICHIGAN, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC IGNITION SYSTEM FOR GAS BUBNERS.

Application Med December 6, 1922. Serial No. 605,155.

sure of individual burners is apt to momen-.

tarily drop, causing the fire of those burners to be extinguished. With the resuming of the pressure feed, a quantity of unlighted as will flow from the burners, which if alfiiwed to accumulate before beingreignited, is a t to cause an explosion and the wrecking of t e oven.

Consequently, to avoid the possibilit of such a d1saster,.a man is emplo ed to eep a watch over the burners all t e time the oven is in operation, and to immediately relight one with a torch or other means as soon as it is extinguished, which can be determined by the audible sound accompanying the extinguishing. Since some ovens have upwards of a hundred burners, and the extinguishing of any one or more at a time is apt to be quite frequent, it is evident that the entire time and services of a man are necessary to attend to keeping the burners going.

The princi al object of my invention is to eliminate t e above named crude and un-.

lutely no attention of any character at any time, barring of course an occasional inspec tion and replacement of any parts which may be worn or burnt out.--

A further object of the invention is -'to produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposes for which it is esigned.

These ob ects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the cabinet in which the spark-controlling mechanism is located.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the main portion of the same, showing the distributor and its operating mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal view of a portion of a burner, showing the sparking attachment.

4 is an end view of thesame.

Fig.- 5 1s a fragmentary view of the distributing panel.

Fig. 6 is an electrical diagram of the circuits employed.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawin s, the numeral 1 denotes a cabinet of suita le dimensions and adapted to be positioned in any desired and visible location, having a door 2 covering the entire front, with a lass panel 3 in the upper portion of the. cor.

Mounted in the cabinet behind the glass is a panel 4 of bakelite or similar insulation material, through which a centrall located shaft 5 projects, this shaft being ournaled in a metal bushing 6 mounted on the panel by means of screws 7. A conducting finger 8 is fixed on the outer end of the shaft (this being the end thereof nearest the glass) the outer end of this finger having a flexible brush'or contact 9 adapted to engage with any one at a time of a number of contacts 10 mounted on the panel 4 and arranged in a circle concentric with the shaft 5, said contacts having binding posts 11 arranged in connection therewith on the back of the panel.

Another set of contacts 12, similar to the contacts 10, is mounted on the panel about a circle concentric with the shaft '5 and smaller than the circle of the contacts 10,

said contacts 12 being adaptedto be engaged one at a time by a brush 13 projecting from one side of the finger 8, binding posts 14 for said contacts 12 being located on the back' of the panel 4. The total numbervof contacts 10 and 12 is equal at least to the total number of burners in the oven.

The contacts 10 are so arranged with re- *spect to the contacts 12 that no one in either row will be in engagement with its respective finger-brush at the same time as the other brush is engaged with a contact of the other row, thisbeing of course for the urpose of avoiding the possibility of a s ort circuit, as both brushes are connected to the common conducting finger.

The shaft 5 is rotated by means of an electric motor mounted in the cabinet 1, the shaft of said motor having a worm 16 thereon which drives a worm gear 17 fixed on the shaft 5 but insulated therefrom.

An additional bearing member 19 is provided for the shaft, besides the bushin 6, thrust members 20 being placed on the s aft at the ends of the member 19 to prevent longitudinal. movement of the shaft.

The gas burners of the oven are shown in the present instance as being metal pipes 21 having an irregular'cut or slit 22 extending lengthwise thereof and from which the gas issues.

On to each pipe or burner, adjacent the beginning of the slit thereof, I secure a block 23 of the heat-resisting insulation material,

such as porcelain, in which is mounted an electrode 24, similar in form to an electrode of an ordinary s ark plug, which projects over the slit in t e pi e, and terminates a suitable distance there rom, so that a spark may be formed at .the gap between this electrode and the pipe adjacent the slit, said pipe forming the other electrode, as will be seen.

Wires 25 lead from the individual electrodes 24 to the contacts 10 or 12, each wire being prefefably enclosed in a porcelain tube age to six volts or thereabouts. A lead 31 from said transformer is connected to one terminal A of a three-pole double-throw switch 32. A lead 33 from the finger 8 is connected to another terminal B of -the switch 32, whilethe third terminal C is practlcally grounded, or as shown, is connected by a lead 34 to the burner pipes 21 which are themselves grounded.

The leads 31 and 34 are connected by the closing of the switch 32 with the primary leads 35 of a vibrating spark or induction coil of ordinary character indicated at D, the lead 33 being then connected to the lead 36 of the secondary or high tension winding of the coil.

The lead 33 is conductively connected to the finger 8 by being attached to one of the screws 7 of the buhsing 6, as shown in Fig. 2.

To prevent non-functioning of the system in the event that the coil D should for any reason become deranged and inoperative, a duplicate coil E is provided, having leads 35 and 36 corresponding to the loads 35 and 36, and adapted to.be coupled up. with the circuits by the throwing of the switch 32 into engagement therewith.

The operation of the system will, it is thought, be fairly self-evident.

W1th the closing of the main switch 29,

the motors 28 and 15 are caused to operate, thegearing between the latter and the shaft 5 being such that the shaft and finger 8 W111 be rotated about eight times per minute so that each of the contacts 10 and 12, will be engaged an equal number of times in the same period.

The object of the coil D is of course to set up what practically amounts to a continuous hi h tension current in the lead 33, which, being distributed to the different electrodes 24 in rotation, causessparks to be formed thereat, which will instantly ignite the gas issuing from an burner pipe should sai gas have been extinguished since the previous spark was made.

Owing to the frequency of formation of the sparks the duratlon of any such eriod of extinguishment will be soshort t at no accumulation of unburnt gas will be had, and no damage will result when said gas is reignited.

The coils, transformer and switch 32 are preferably located in the cabinet 1 under the d1str1butor, so that the entire mechanism is in a compact form and conveniently arranged.

The wires 25 from one set of contacts are preferably led through a conduit 37 in the v of the cabinet, while the wires from the to other set of contacts are led through a similar conduit 38 in the bottom of the cabinet.

From the foregoing description it will be readlly seen'that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as-set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred" construction of the device, still in. practice such deviations from such detail may be restorted to as do not form a de arture from the spirit of the invention, as efined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with a plurality of electrically connected gas burners, an electrode for each burner terminating adjacent the same and insulated therefrom, a circuit in which said burners and electrodes are interposed, and automatically controlled continuously operated means for closmg the circuit to the electrodes in rotation and at constantly operates to induce a high tension current in recurring intervals. the first named circuit, and automatically 10 2. In combination with a plurality of eleccontrolled electrical means operated by said trically connected gas burners, an electrode first circuit for closing the circuit to the 5 for each burner terminating adjacent the electrodes in rotation and at constantly resame and insulated therefrom, a circuit in curring intervals.

which said burners and electrodes are inter- In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

posed, another circuit, the current in which ELMIN T. BANZHAF. 

